Chapter 65

DORIS

I knew Arthur was at the main AmeriCapital office today, so I was surprised to see him leaning in the doorway of my office at Heritage Properties.

"Hi, Little Dove." Arthur's eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint. "How about tonight, after Mia is asleep, we break away from the ordinary life and have a little adventure?"

I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Adventure? What do you have in mind, Arthur?"

“You’ll see.”

At 9 pm, when it was time to leave, Mrs. Sanchez from downstairs came to keep an eye on sleeping Mia.

"We might not be back until close to dawn," Arthur said.

“No problem, I’ll rest on the couch. Don’t you worry.”

Arthur held the door for me as we got in the back of a fancy, blue Lamborghini.

"Doris, are you up for a late-night picnic under the stars? Just you, me, and a blanket spread out in this special spot I know."

I chuckled, amused by his spontaneity. "Arthur, that sounds like the perfect way to spend the evening!"

We went to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“I’ve never been here,” I said.

“You’ll love it.” Arthur carried the blanket and the picnic basket in one hand and held me close with the other.

We found a nice patch of grass by the railing and the water.

“You can see a good section of downtown and midtown Manhattan from here,” Arthur said, pointing. “You can see the new One World Trade Center - One World Observatory, the Chrysler building, the Citibank building, and of course…" he paused, humor in his voice, "The AmeriCapital building."

“It’s beautiful, Arthur. Thank you.”

We sat and ate the snacks Arthur bought and enjoyed the romance of the glittering Manhattan lights.

“Arthur?”

“Hhmn?”

"I know this is coming out of nowhere, but I still feel bad about the whole situation with Dr. John and Jeff. There's nothing I can do about the surgery part. But I've been thinking about how bad I felt when Jeff corned me. He made me feel desperate. Like I had no choices about the medicine."

I looked to see if I had Arthur’s full attention. I did. “What if we tried to develop our own medicine? Something that can rival Jeff's product?"

Before Arthur could answer, I hurried on. "I know you want to do less business, not more. And you just bought a hockey team and want to focus on that. But you've got more resources, both with your deep pockets and important connections, than anyone I know. If we delegated in a really smart way…" I let my sentence trail off.

Arthur looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly as he considered my suggestion. "Doris, it's an intriguing idea.” He rubbed his hands together like a cartoon villain. "The best thing about it is we could stick it to Jeff."

“That’s not the best thing about it. The best thing about it is we could help people.”

Arthur gave me a peck on the cheek. “You’re right. Damaging Jeff’s bottom line is just a bonus. We can make it happen. Let's do it!"

ARTHUR

The next day Doris and I were standing outside the hockey rink when Cathy texted me again. Unfortunately, Doris saw the name on the incoming text.

I could immediately see how much it bothered Doris. My lovely dove had grown in confidence since I met her, but every time Cathy texted, it shook Doris to the core.

"Don't worry, Doris. Cathy doesn't hold a candle to you. I'm never going to love her the way I love you."

I would have answered Cathy, but I was just about to go into the arena to meet my brand-new hockey team. I couldn't be late. How would it look if the new owner was late to his own meeting?

I sent off a quick text to Cathy, telling her it wasn't a good time and I would get back to her later in the evening,

I gave Doris a quick kiss and promised to meet her at home later. Even though we had had that wonderful date by the Brooklyn Bridge, I felt like I hadn't spent enough time with her lately.

Things were going well in business, but I hadn't sold off enough parts. I'd been preparing Nathan, but I still hadn't trained him enough. My life was changing, sure, but it wasn't there yet.

I still didn't have the right work-life balance.

Walking down the hallway to the ice rink to meet my team, I considered taking another European vacation with my family. My family? Yeah, Mia and Doris were my family now.

Doris was part of my family whether we had a piece of paper to say it or not. She didn't realize it, but that's how I felt about her.

I looked at the athletes who were already gathered.

"Hello, gentlemen," I said loudly with a big smile in my voice. "Let's get started."

That night I took Mia and three of her friends out to a kid-friendly restaurant with an arcade. After I took Doris on a date to a quiet jazz club,

Then when we got back to the penthouse, all I wanted to do was make love to her. I completely forgot that I said I would call Cathy until the next day when I was in the middle of a meeting.

"That's OK," I mumbled to myself. "I can get back to her later."

The next morning when I got to work, Doris sent me an email about a possible large, empty warehouse in New Jersey that could serve as a laboratory for developing the new drug. She'd also written a help wanted ad for a manager, drug developers, and assistants. She was thinking ahead.

I admired her initiative. But it reminded me I wanted to work less, not more. I didn't think Doris wanted to be the director of a pharmaceutical company either.

Doris liked real estate. I tried to think of who I knew who would be a great director to lead the new medicine project.

"Nathan!" I yelled.

He stuck his head in my office, holding on to the open door frame. "Yeah, boss?"

"We need someone to run the drug endeavor."

"And run Jeff into the ground? I'm already on it."

I smiled at him.

"You want to be in on the interviews?" Nathan asked me.

"No. I trust you. You decide."

My focus is family and hockey and wooing Doris more.

Days went by. Every morning I worked hard at AmeriCapital, taking meetings and working with Nathan to restructure the company.

Every afternoon I was at the hockey rink with the Arctic Avalanches, watching them prepare for their debut game of the season. Most of the players were young. They were fast and strong. They had a good offensive game.

But their defense needed work, and they weren't great at working together. As I watched them, it was clear that what they were missing was a mature player and good leadership.

I probably needed to fire the coach and promote the assistant coach. I didn't know enough about sports management.

I might need to hire a consultant.

Still, I couldn't help the excitement. I thought about getting a pair of skates and getting onto the rink myself, maybe early mornings instead of going to the gym at my own home.

And I'd like to introduce Mia and Doris to the world of ice skating. Anything I do with that makes me happy.

Doris and I watched an exhibition game preseason. As my team was warming up, my anticipation built.

"Are you excited?" Doris asked.

"Yes. I haven't been this excited since a beautiful woman came up to me and propositioned me, thinking I was a stripper."

Doris laughed and gave me a gentle slap on the arm.

"I didn't know hockey was that exciting."

"Almost."

I watched the Arctic Avalanche guys play. When they had the puck, they did great. When the other team had a puck, the Artics were a disaster. I had to get some mature players on this team.

Nathan found an MIT graduate who had been leading a team at Pfizer for three years and was willing to jump ship and come to our new pharmaceutical company. Her name was Emma. She seemed down to earth.

I was looking forward to seeing Jeff‘s face when he found out I had a drug that blew his out of the water. Like they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.

At dinner, I asked Doris and Mia, "What should we name our new pharmaceutical company?"

"What's pharmaceuticals? Mia asked.

"That's a fancy word for drugs," I said.

"So why don't they just say drugs? Mia asked.

"So they can charge more," Doris said.

I laughed. "Maybe. Okay. What should we name the company?"

"What about Vita Pharm Solutions?" Doris suggested. "Or Bio Gen?"

"What about Help Everyone Drugs?" Mia chimed in.

"Should it be something technical sounding?" Doris asked. "Like Bion Genecov or TecniQuest Pharmaceuticals?"

Mia stuck her tongue out and makes a pfft-buzzing sound. "Boring."

"I have an idea," I said. "Why don't we call the company Mia‘s Heart? And will can call the drug Noah's Miracle."

"I love it," Doris said.

I looked at my daughter. "What do you think? It's your name."

She jumped out of her seat and clapped her hands. "I love it too. Does that mean I get all the money from the drugs? It does! It's all mine!"

Doris and I laughed. "I don't think so," I said.

"I am putting in $50 a week to this project," Doris said. "How about you put in 50 cents a week to this project? Then once we start making a profit, we'll see what happens.”

My daughter put out her hand to Doris for a handshake. "Deal," Mia said.